You'll Love This Cocktail (I sure do)

Maple-Bourbon Smash
(Makes 2 drinks)

Bourbon-Maple Smash

Ingredients:
1 ounce maple syrup
2 ounces fresh orange juice
1/2 - 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
8 dashes bitters
1 slice orange, about 1/2 inch thick, plus more slices for garnish
4 ounces bourbon
Ice
Sparkling water, chilled

Instructions:
In a small pitcher or cocktail shaker, combine the syrup, orange juice, lemon juice and bitters. Add the orange slice and muddle lightly. Add bourbon and stir well. Divide mixture into two rocks glasses. Fill the glasses with ice, top with sparkling water and garnish with a half-slice of orange.

NOTE: I made a non-alcoholic version, too, for a non-drinker, and it was pretty darn good, too! Just don't add bourbon; all else is the same.

Recipes for whiskey drinks

I know that many of my readers don't drink hard liquor, but for those who do (at least occasionally), I've found a site that offers nifty ideas for cocktails with Scotch, bourbon or rye as their main ingredient. While I like to have a bit of bourbon from time to time, my repertoire of what to mix with it has been rather limited. If you're interested, check out this slide show with recipes from Food & Wine magazine's website.
As an example, try the following variation on a whiskey sour (ah, a drink from my long-ago youth....), made with Tennessee whiskey.

Tennessee Rose (makes one drink):
Ingredients:
Ice
2 ounces Tennessee whiskey
3 ounces fresh grapefruit juice
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce creme de cassis
1 lemon wedge
Instructions:
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the lemon wedge and rose petals; shake well. Strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Garnish with the lemon wedge 

My cocktail obsession of the week

This is called a Sweet Tea Sour -- a re-creation of the one I had at Table in Asheville NC. It's super easy to make; in fact, I make up a small batch and keep it in the fridge so it's ready for the 5 o'clock hour.
Here's the recipe for one drink, but it can be made in multiples of two, four, whatever.

Sweet Tea Sour

1 1/2 ounces good quality bourbon
1/2 ounce Amaretto
Juice of 1/2 lemon
4 ounces sweetened (black) tea, or 4 ounces unsweetened tea and simple syrup, to taste
--Combine all ingredients in a small jar or cocktail shaker; shake well. Pour over ice in a tall glass and garnish with fruit of your choice.

My new best friend (among cocktails)

I'm making this one at home a lot these days: the SIDECAR. Traditional recipes use brandy and cointreau, but I take it up a notch and substitute cognac and Grand Marnier. Either way, it's a delectable treat while cooking dinner, or just sitting on my front porch listening to the birdies sing.

SIDECAR (makes one cocktail; can be doubled):
Fill a quarter-cup measure about two-thirds full with the brandy or cognac. Fill it up with cointreau or Grand Marnier.
Pour this into a cocktail shaker with ice.
Add the juice of 1/.2 large lemon and ounces of simple syrup.
Shake well and strain into a glass filled with fresh ice.
Garnish with a slice of fresh orange.

Luscious cocktails made with wine

Watermelon Sangria

To go with summer's lighter foods fresh from the garden or farm, cocktails made with wine instead of hard liquor can lighten up your alcohol consumption, too. In fact, "mocktails" made without any alcohol are a great option with summer's bounteous, fresh ingredients, too.

A recent cocktail from my garden started with peeled and seeded cucumber pureed in the blender with a handful of basil and a little mint. I let this mixture sit for a few minutes, then poured it through a strainer to remove the solids. Combining that with lime juice and sweetener -- I used a combo of agave, Splenda and simple syrup to keep calories down -- I poured it over crushed ice. If you want any alcohol with this drink, I'd suggest tequila.

Here is a link to a slide show on the Food & Wine website that includes recipes for 10 wine-based cocktails, including this one for Watermelon Sangria.
Also pictured, and in the Food & Wine article, is an orange-infused white wine drink)

Recipe: Watermelon Sangria (will serve 4-6)

Ingredients:

2 pounds seedless watermelon, peeled and cubed, plus 1/2 pound watermelon cut into balls with a melon baller and skewered on picks
1 bottle dry white wine
6 ounces vodka (optional)4 ounces Cointreau or other triple sec
4 ounces Citrus Syrup
Ice    

Instructions:

 In a blender, puree the watermelon cubes. Pour through a fine strainer into a pitcher. Add the white wine, vodka, Cointreau and Citrus Syrup. Stir and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Stir again, then pour the sangria into ice-filled white wine glasses and garnish with the skewered watermelon balls. 

Vin d'Orange Cocktail

Modernized "Classic" Cocktails -- or Mocktails!

With warmer weather upon us -- hooray, hooray, hooray -- it's time to lighten up our before-dinner drinks and think about such things as sangria, daiquiris and mojitos.
Check out this set of recipes for such treats as Thai-basil sangria, lemongrass margarita, rhubarb daiquiri, limoncello Collins and the one pictured: strawberry-lemon mojito (recipe below).
If you don't want the alcohol, several of these can be made as "virgin" drinks. We're having a dinner party in a couple of weeks with several non-drinkers in the crowd. I might try that strawberry-lemon mojito without the rum for those who would prefer it.



Recipe: Strawberry-Lemon Mojito (Makes 4 drinks)

Ingredients:

1. 8 lemon wedges
2. 24 mint leaves, plus 4 mint sprigs, for garnish (optional)
3. 4 strawberries, plus 2 halved strawberries, for garnish
4. Ice cubes, plus crushed ice
5. 8 ounces gold or aged rum**
6. 3 ounces fresh lemon juice
7. 2 ounces sugar syrup or agave nectar

Instructions:
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the lemon wedges with the whole strawberries and mint leaves. Add ice and the rum, lemon juice and sugar syrup; shake well. Strain into crushed ice–filled highball glasses. Garnish with the berry halves and mint sprigs.

** May be prepared without the rum.